Blog Topics

Only a few more sleeps...

Category: Public/Communities

Date: 14.05.2015

Time: 16.07

There’s a real buzz in the office this week because we’ve just a few more sleeps until the Green Festival 2015!

I’m particularly excited about this one! I’ve been at PECT for six of the previous twenty-odd festivals that we’ve put on, but this is a festival of firsts. This is the first time we’ve had Arts Council funding, amazing huh? This is the first time we’re going to have a dedicated street art area and the first time we’re going to have a bar, plus for me it’s the first time I’ve been managing the festival - buzzing!

It’s really exciting for my team because it gives everyone the chance to celebrate the work they do week-in-week-out. We are currently managing 12 projects in my team, and whilst we all work together as much as we can each project officer has the responsibility for their own project and often they are working on their own. So to have the opportunity to join forces with the rest of the PECT team, all our other stakeholders, and the big green community of Peterborough means we’re all on a bit of a high.

You can (and probably have) looked at other areas of the website to find out more about my team’s projects and details for the festival, so I want to tell you more about the arts element of the festival. We’ve commissioned three local artists from different disciplines who are being ably looked after by our artistic producer, Tony Henderson.

The first of our artists is Keely Mills, local poet, writer and performer. Keely is using poetry as her medium, and dispelling the city’s reputation for being difficult to get around using public transport. She has been travelling around on our buses, taking in the landscape, talking to other travellers and getting her experiences down in rhyme. On the launch day you will be able to hear poetry live on the Stagecoach bus in St Johns Square and on the PA systems of various places around the city.

The second of our artists is Tom Fox, local performance artist, who is trying out something very new and innovative for Peterborough. Detective (Insert Name) is an audience participation piece which you can take part in; you become the detective and help solve the crime! This pre-bookable event will allow you to discover a crime of huge magnitude, then move around the city centre to discover the clues and become a real life detective solving the art heist of the century. I warn you places for this event are limited so book your place now!

Our third artist Stuart Payne, one of Peterborough’s premier visual artists, is building a pledge tree out of recycled and reused items. Stuart has been working hard to design and build this sculptural piece which will have an interactive pledge system on the festival launch day.

To see all this and take part in the numerous free green activities for all the family, at this year’s Green Festival, come along to Cathedral Square, Peterborough, on the 23rd May and for more details go to www.pect.org.uk/GreenFestival.

Karen is PECT’s Communities Team Leader. She has written about this year’s Peterborough Green Festival, which will be held on 23-31 May 2015, with a free launch day of Saturday 23rd May, in Cathedral Square.